The Amazon Legacy: Gods & Queens by Zenay Bekele Ben-Yochanan

This is a saga, a pure, exciting adventurous saga which starts from the Gods of the Greekmythology, Zeus, his wife Hera and their wager and ends in the life of Amazonian women, the brutalities faced by them and their courage in overcoming the challenges.

An amazing book by a brilliant storyteller, who has carefully chosen her plot to include the gods, their politics and ways, slowly connecting them to the Amazonian queen and her tribes. A moment of indiscretion by Queen Elektra, leads to the downfall of the tribes of Amazonia. She is banned to Hades, but she leaves behind her mark and her magical girdle.

In the course of life, two women meet and clash, Thea and Teigra, mighty in different ways, one becomes a Sondra, a warrior and the other, going through the strives in life, becomes a paid assassin for the self-declared, torturer of humans, King Zarek. And their saga, fulfilling the words of their prophecy, continues…

The author, Zenay Bekele Ben-Yochanan, is quite a weaver of the tale. Reading the story, I imagined that the author sat down at her spinning-wheel, slowly twisting the cotton into threads of gold, adding different colors to enhance the gold, each thread undulating and entwining to become a chapter, weaving itself into a complete story filling the barren tapestry of the book. The colors, the passions, the adventures, the mystery, all binding into a rich tale, a saga like never read before.

A first in the series, Zenay has taken the plot of Greek mythology and its links to the Amazonian women and given it a twist. She writes with a flair, hardly ever in debut authors. An adventure thriller which has mystery, prophecy, Kings, Queens, torture, ambushes, love, war is quite difficult to write, giving each part equal importance so that the story is balanced and exciting to the reader. And Zenay has taken great care to see that each fragment fits like a jigsaw puzzle into her story. Her characterisations throw an exotic allure in the book. Each one is distinctive and extremely detailed, whether it is the free spirit like Thea, the tortured spirit like Teigra or the one who snuffs off the spirit and tortures the body using techniques almost unheard of, like Zarek.

A few niggles; there are manycharacters other than the main ones, so I had to go back and find the right link, to place them in their proper context in the story. At 356 pages, the story is quite long.

But what is remarkable is the author’s ability to extract every nuance of feeling from my heart. I felt happiness, joy, sadness, erotism, helplessness, shock, disgust, anger, vengeful and ultimately pride at the girls’ journey to reach their peak.

Weaving a tale from the Greek mythology to the Amazonian women is a stroke of genius. It uplifts the story and enhances the excitement many times over. Zenay Bekele Ben-Yochanan is nothing but a great storyteller who can portray women as the greatest species of all… So true!!

My rating : 4.5 stars

About the Author

Zenay Bekele Ben-Yochanan was born in Ethiopia and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. Raised during a time when kids had the freedom to roam the streets, surrounded by holy sites, rich traditions and culture, Zenay was heavily influenced by her environment. She was raised by two women, her aunt and a family friend, both of whom she considers her mother. She’s a self-proclaimed foodie who loves to cook. Her dream is to travel the world, tasting food from every conceivable corner of the globe, and never have to worry about gaining weight. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California where she writes from the comfort of her home

An embittered wager between Zeus and Hera results in the banishment of the most powerful Amazon leader, Queen Elektra. Sent to Hades, she leaves behind two precious gems and the Golden Girdle, holder of mysteries and the gift of immortality for the rightful owner. In Elektra’s absence, two fierce warriors rise.
Teigra—a lone wolf who has suffered a life of unspeakable brutality as a slave. Forced to earn her living as a cage fighter, she endures by way of her cunning wit, quick reflexes, and lethal striking abilities. As a hired assassin, loyal only to the highest bidder, a chance encounter with the Girdle reframes her destiny.

Thea—raised and trained as a Sondra. As elite warriors in the Amazon tribe, held in the highest esteem among their people, a Sondra’s mission is to eliminate any outside threat. But a new directive takes shape when a seer repositions her path to find the Golden Girdle.

The battle to recover the Girdle pits warrior against warrior. Both are unaware of each other’s existence, until they are sent on a perilous quest with impossibly high stakes. On opposite sides of a grand, savage battle, each woman is driven to dominate the other by a shared prophecy and an instinctual force to outlive and outlast.

Hello Shalini, no problem. Your postings are worth to do. Always! Oh, with c & p i am very convenient in programming. LOL
A good sideeffect is the possibility to tag the articles also here. This could bring more audience for the postings, over Google Search. Michael

Always seeing the positive moments in life. Because looking out of my window is depressive enough. LOL Thanks! Michael 😉
You really want to see in which
environment we are living here? LOLhttp://marco.newsagency.tk/repos01/?i=2
Don’t be shocked. 😉

Well, I’m always a sucker for Greek mythology! This one sounds very interesting although the ‘too many characters’ always get to me. Simplifying is always best, especially when you’re working with names that may not be of the norm.. But, I’m willing to bite that bullet and give it a shot!

Great review! Whether it be a trilogy or series, first books are hard. It seems like the author did a pretty good job at grasping the necessary elements to push you into reading more. I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

I’ll have to check it out. I’m reading The Odyssey right now but would like something more contemporary for sure!! aww man so the second book hasn’t come out? i’m terrible at keeping up with sagas, I never even finished the Eragon series tsk tsk

Eragon was fabulous. I devoured it.. It was so exciting… I wonder why the author stopped writing after that. At least, I could not find any other books of his.
This book Amazon Legacy has just released. It is a complete book but with a continuing story. I think in the next book, the characters are same but they would have to fulfil their prophecy. That’s why I liked this book, not a major cliff hanger where the story feels incomplete.
You are right, I too generally wait for all the books in the series, then read it all up

i used to idolize him when i was little! he started that series when he was like 19!! maybe he has had a lot of success? that’s a good question i am going to google it. Cliff hangers are so cruel. i need to reread Eragon, maybe do a readathon!!

I want to read some of your high rated reviewed books. But yet get on to that.
The reviewer is clearly the agent for the wish to read and not the author.
Amazing
And, for sure, I trust your words Shalini